Worship of Buddhist Teachers: Visual images in everyday ritual practice

Abstract

This article examines the culture of visual images of Buryat Buddhists in the south of Siberia on the example of the collection of photographs of the IMBT SB RAS and the complex “Hoimor-Gungurva”. Based on a comparative analysis, the author establishes the relationship between the local culture of visual images of Buddhists and the identity of the Buryats. After determining the identity of Buryat Buddhists based on the analysis of the visual aspects of their religious worship, this article argues that the culture of Buddhist visual images and the daily practice of worshipping them are the most important aspects in the formation of local identity. The analysis confirmed the fact that a radical change in the mechanism of transmission of the Buddhist tradition in Buryatia, social shifts, and the economic crisis led to the transformation of the vector of development of the traditional Buddhist culture of the Buryats, the priority of which is not the general religious, but the local ethnic component.